that looks like a bbj to me. SSJ have a white side stripe and while I know night viewing is tough (the only privalage I get is after call more 7pm) im sure the pronounced black stripe is typical of aged bbj. The back starts to get more grey and the definition between tan and black gets more pronounced...as I shall try demonstrate *google*

kinda like that but ive seen better examples...
image from :www.brotherssafaris.com/thumbwildlifejackal.jpg

These two seen on the 5th may 2006 on the S3 near Pretoriuskop.
Very low light in the early morning.
I thought they were BB jackals until Impisi08 pointed out that they are apparently Side striped jackals...
Original:
Here same pic with levels lightened:

Hi all,
Years ago I saw my first side stripe at Sunset dam. I have heard them around Talamati.

I had now twice sightings on night drives at L/ Sabie. I saw last year October one on a night drive at Lower Sabie. The guide (not one of the permanent ones, think he was a honarary ranger), identified it wrong. The tale is a dead give away.

Some of the tourists on this last night drive also argued and were confused and thought we saw black-backed jackal that looks scruffy. A dead give away is that the Side striped has a white tip on his tail while black-backed has a black tip.

I think more people see them and mistake them.

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." Martin Luther

Last edited by ndloti on Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.